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A Unified Field Theory
When I was much (much) younger and actually understood the Maths I was studying, I read a wonderful little book called Flatland by Edwin Abbott. At one level it was a commentary on social hierarchy and at another an examination of the resistance of humans to recognizing - much less understanding - the concept of multiple dimensions. The book was written in 1884 BTW.
Just been watching a wonderful Ted Talk on ‘E8’ (or as it is affectionately known - Garrett Lisi’s Theory of Everything ) two years after it was recorded.
In the past 125 years, we seem to have developed a little - and now routinely talk of (that is different to understand) multi-dimensional space. In Garrett’s case (he is focussed on a theoretical model with 8 dimensions, dubbed E8 - that he ‘hopes’ IS the unified field theory we have been searching for around a century now (maybe longer) - I use ‘hope’ loosley - he seems to be working with something more than hope :)
At the end of a talk, Garrett gave to a small group of souls on Maui, he was asked by our host to explain E8 a little further. As he did,I couldn’t help but recall Edwin’s book as he talked of how different aspects of the 8 dimensions spin in and out of focus as the model spins around. Read the book - you will see what I mean.
(BTW fellow followers - Garrett is a Maui Resident - we truly have an eclectic, stunning, and extraordinary collection of residents on this island of ours.)
This post was originally published on January 9th 2012 - and dusted off to celebrate life again ….